Not applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the cleaning of a filter cartridge used to remove debris from water, and more particularly, to a combination of parts for using water of a swimming pool filtration system for flushing debris from a water filter after use to clean debris from pool water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a well-known practice to circulate water of a swimming pool or spa through a filter to remove entrained solids. It is essential to clean debris entrapped on the water permeable fibrous surface of the water filter at regular intervals to maintain an effective performance of the water filter. A water filter for a residential swimming pool typically takes the form of a filter housing containing a removable filter cartridge. Commercial swimming pools are typically provided with a water filter having spaced apart filter grids in a water chest. The cartridge type filters and filter grids are all per se well known in the art and produce an increase to the back pressure in the piping connected to the water pump due to a reduced flow space for water caused by entrapped debris on the filtration surface. It is a common practice to use an existing spray nozzle used for household chores and connected to a water hose for using water supplied by municipal water authority for washing debris from the water filter. The size of the central opening in a cartridge type filter for delivery of filtered water forms a restraint precluding effective access of a water stream from an existing spray nozzle to produce the cleaning action by water flow opposite to the flow of swimming pool water through the cartridge. The filter cleaning operation is time consuming and the water pressure is often inadequate to clean the filter throughly.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,820,552 and 4,417,596 it is known in the art to move a cartridge type filter in an elongated annular sleeve provided with a serial of water discharge holes directed to the outer peripheral of the filter cartridge. The water discharge holes communicate with an external annulus for supplying water from a water main by an interconnected hose. The streams of water discharged from the elongated annular sleeve impact against the pleated surface of the filter cartridge in the same direction as the flow of water from the swimming pool. The water flow functions to free the debris lying on the surface of the filter by suspending the debris in the water draining from the surface of the filter. Water passed through the filter is lost to the cleaning process because the streams of water are directed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a construction of a filter cleaning device to provide streams of cleaning water for passage through a water filter in a direction that is opposite to the flow of water during the filtration operation.
It is a further objection of the present invention to provide a water filtering system using the water pump thereof to provide the source of pool water at high pressure and high volume than usually available from a municipal water authority for more effective cleaning of a pool filter which can be in the form of a filter cartridge or filter grids.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a water discharge wand having a manifold provided with an array of water discharge orifices sufficient in a number and orifice diameter to accommodate the pressurized flow of pool water formed by a water pump of a pool filtering system.
According to the present invention there is provided in a water filtering system having a pump coupled in piping for a circulating water of a body of water such as swimming pool water through a filter cartridge in one flow direction to a centrally located discharge chamber for delivery from the filter cartridge, the combination of: a valve coupled in the piping between the pump and the filter housing, the valve having a first position wherein the filter housing receives the entire water output from the pump and a second position for diverting the entire water output of the pump from the filter housing; a conduit for receiving the entire water output from the pump when the valve is in the second position; and a first water discharge wand joined to the conduit for receiving the water output from the conduit, the first water discharge wand having an elongated handle with an internal duct communicating with a circular ring-shaped manifold having an array of water discharged apertures for directing streams of water radially outward into a filter cartridge in a direction opposite to the flow of water through the filter cartridge when in a filter housing for hydraulically flushing debris from a filter cartridge using the entire pressurized water flow of the pump.